This is the pianist's second album as leader for ECM following the acclaimed solo recital, Arborescence released in 2013. For many, however, Parks may be most familiar for his work as sideman (although this is his seventh album under his own name) having been part of the collective quartet James Farm with saxophonist, Joshua Redman; as well as having appeared on albums by Terence Blanchard, Kurt Rosenwinkel, trumpeters Christian Scot and Ambrose Akinmusiret, and vocalist Gretchen Parlato. For ECM, the pianist has also appeared on South Korean singer Yeahwon Shin’s superb label debut, Lua Ya.

Find The Way has Parks bringing together an all star cast to explore the tricky territory of the piano trio, tricky in as much as this is a tried, tested and familiar format that has presented many great recordings, and to 'find one's way' in this setting is a daunting challenge for any musician. Parks has succeeded in finding the way, by not trying to break any boundaries or preconceptions about one would expect of a trio album but has instead found a way to inhabit the chosen material in such a way that there is plenty of room for improvisation, and each musician to contribute to the overall shape of each individual piece; as is clearly evidence in 'Alice' in which drummer Hart seeks to open things out rhythmically by simply upsetting the steady flow of the music, gently creating a tension between himself and the piano and bass.

Much of the music of this lovely set is quiet and reflective, yet the intense feeling between the three musicians is evident throughout. Parks is familiar with both Street's playing and the effervescent Billy Hart who team up to make a superlative bass and drums combination for the pianist's compositions, with the pianist describing 'Melquíades' named for a character in Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, as having "a classic ECM feel to me”. 'The Storyteller' is aptly titled with a delightful narrative unfolding as the piece progresses, and indeed this sense of telling a story through music is a theme that runs throughout the set.

From the opener, 'Adrift' that floats gently yet remains firmly anchored to the beautiful closer and title track 'Find The Way' that the pianist heard on an LP by Rosemary Clooney and Nelson Riddle this is totally absorbing set from start to finish. An album of rare beauty and subtly that will mark this out as one of the stand alone trio sets of the year.

Reviewed by Nick Lea

ECM celebrates 50 years of music production with the Touchstones series of re-issues